The Dead Of Night
by golden starfish
Summary: [Intruder Missing Scenes] Just when they think the problems are finally sorted...
1. The Dead Of Night

Spoilers: Season Two up to and including "Intruder"  
Category: H/C, humor, missing scenes  
Warnings: language – mild swearing

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Stargate Atlantis or the characters in it.

A/N - This is a Gen fic with an optional Pre-Slash epilogue

A/N 2 – Big thanks to my beta imskysmom, thanks to Flo for pointing out plot holes and helping me patch them up, thanks also to Beanie and Kip.

* * *

This fic is set between McKay and Sheppard's time in the F-302 before and their return to Atlantis a few days later.

* * *

**The Dead Of Night**

**  
**

"Look, its going red! I told you I'd burn!"  
"It's only been four hours, Rodney; it can't be going red already."  
"Not unless it's a severe burn. Oh no."  
Sheppard leaned back, taking a sip of his drink raising his eyebrows as McKay continued to talk.  
"I'm going to be sterile from the radiation."  
"God forbid the thought that anyone would want lots of little McKay's running about."  
"Ha ha. I can't pass on my genes now but maybe -"  
"Don't forget your genes which are inferior to my genes," smirked Sheppard. It was well over a year since they'd met but this was still something that wound McKay up.  
"That's not true -"  
"'Night, Rodney, I'm going to get some sleep. You should too; it's been a long day with all that imminent doom stuff."  
McKay gave Sheppard a sarcastic smile.  
"Sleep means sleep," added Sheppard over his shoulder before leaving the mess hall.

* * *

McKay was making his way back to his quarters; he would've gone to his lab but the Daedalus didn't have one, so he'd crammed all his stuff into his cupboard-like room. His vision was slightly blurred, something he put down to dry eyes and tiredness. He rubbed his eyes; entering the room he spotted his laptop on the desk and got to work.

* * *

Tired, Sheppard got straight into bed after reaching his quarters; he had a headache, nothing new. Turning off the light he closed his eyes and hoped for a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Rubbing his eyes again, the screen was still blurry, a sure sign he needed to sleep, but something McKay always ignored; he was surprised he wasn't wearing inch thick glasses by now. Turning the light on he noted it had a halo around it. Weird, he thought absently, and turning back to the screen he tried again to focus but to no avail. He rubbed his eyes again; God, this was annoying! His mind was working at light speed but his body was packing it in, complaining it needed rest. He closed the lid on the laptop and made his way to the bed; taking off his boots he laid back with a sigh. He wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight; with the haunting memories of Lindstrom's death still fresh and his thoughts racing he wondered how he could ever get to sleep again. Closing his eyes McKay yearned for sleep to envelop him.

* * *

Sheppard barely slept. The headache was pounding now, his skin was tingling, a sure sign of sun burn. Reaching over, he hit the light switch, nothing happened. Just great, what a way to start the day, he thought. He hit it again rather harder than necessary, still nothing. Despite the darkness in the room, he felt for his clothes and got dressed. He pressed the control button to open the door. He heard it open but saw nothing but black. Had the Daedalus suffered a catastrophic power failure and they hadn't told him? When power went there was emergency lighting, where was that? He looked both left and right down the corridors, nothing; they'd got rid of the damn virus by nearly getting fried. If it had come back after all that... He felt his way down the corridor, only to walk straight into a supporting beam, did they really need to be stationed in the MIDDLE of the corridors. Man, this headache was making him short-tempered. He rubbed his nose, that hurt; it felt as though the skin was on fire, pain crawling all over his skin. He turned round and made his way back to his room, what was he thinking walking off with out any kind of light or radio contact. Palming the door control he made his way for the foot of the bed. He knew his radio should be on the trunk. Feeling for the trunk he was surprised when his hand met no resistance, then felt the edge of the bed and moved his hands up. He yelped when he contacted something soft and squishy. He wasn't in his own room. God, McKay would have a field day if he heard about this, sneaking about in the night, groping who knows who. The body stirred, emitting a small groan. 

"Sorry," Sheppard muttered quietly before turning to flee; only he couldn't find the door. He tripped over the corner of a box and landed heavily on the floor. He bit his tongue and resisted the urge to curse, standing up he tried moving to the right this time but let out a loud yelp of pain when his hip caught the edge of what must be a table. The body on the bed shifted, then suddenly snapped to attention, the sound of a gun being cocked and the safety being flicked off echoed through the room.

"Who's there?"  
Sheppard breathed a sigh of relief, it was McKay.  
"Rodney."  
"What the hell are you doing in my room, Colonel?"  
"There's been a power failure."  
"You don't think sneaking around in rooms at night is going to frighten people?"  
"The -"  
"This is more than a bit disturbing," continued McKay. He rubbed his eyes again, they felt gritty, reaching for the light switch, he heard it flick but nothing happened.  
"The lights don't work."  
"That's what I'm TRYING to tell you."  
"Okay, okay. Let me try the intercom to find out what's going on"  
There was the clunking sound but no noise.  
"Okay so the intercom doesn't work either. But that doesn't run off the main power supply grid that has a separate one and if that's down as well-"  
"Do you have any flashlights, Rodney?"  
"I don't keep them lying about my room."  
"Okay tetchy."  
"I woke up with a strange man stumbling about my room! Wouldn't you be a little on edge?"  
"I wouldn't have stumbled if you didn't leave stuff in the way," replied Sheppard. "Hey! I'm not strange!"  
"My stuff wasn't in the way. Now my laptop should still work, the battery was fully charged."  
McKay rolled onto the floor and crawled over to his desk. Standing up, he put out his hands to feel for the computer.  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" said a shocked Sheppard.  
"Hey, you were the one who came into my room!"  
"Not to be groped!"  
"I was looking for the computer."  
"Yeah. Sure."  
"Here it is."  
McKay pushed the on/off button but nothing happened.  
"It doesn't work."  
"Like everything else around here," muttered Sheppard.  
"Okay, what could knock out all the electrical equipment on the Daedalus?"  
"An EM blast." Sheppard wondered what it was with him them, he had been around way to many EM pulses lately.  
"But we have shielding from EM."  
"An internal EM blast."  
"Thank god Kavanagh isn't on board," said McKay.  
"Okay, so an EM blast is not likely. The wraith virus again?"  
"Possible. We need to get to the bridge ASAP." After a brief pause Sheppard added, "and find flashlights."  
"Yes, because I memorized where they are stored."  
"They are two floors up in the storeroom next to the armory."  
"You did?"  
The look of astonishment on McKay's face was something Sheppard would have loved to have seen. "What? Its stuff I need to know," Sheppard said with a shrug.  
"My shoes?" asked McKay.  
"And I need to know where your shoes are because…?"  
McKay felt on the floor for his boots and finding them, put them on quickly. He made his way to the door, pressed the button and heard the door open.  
"Colonel, this way."  
"I'm trying. It's just all the-"  
There was a loud crash and a groan.  
"What kind of stuff do you keep in here, Rodney?"  
"Bit and pieces."  
"Do your bits and pieces have to be sharp and pointy?"  
"Well, yes."  
"Just give me a hand up. At this rate I'm never going to get out of here."  
McKay followed Sheppard's voice, reaching down he touched his head, hmm no gel on the hair, he shifted his hands down his neck to find his shoulders.  
"Is it really necessary to feel up the rest of me?"  
"Just give me your hand."  
McKay traced the arm and grabbed hold of the hand. Sheppard stood up with a stifled whimper. Whatever it was he'd landed on felt like a dagger through his leg.  
"You and your junk, McKay"  
"It's not junk. Are you okay?"  
"Yes, just hurts a bit."  
"Way more than a bit?"  
"This isn't exactly the time to complain, if I could find the tiny little microphone thing I'd be calling the bridge, not to mention Beckett right now. Do you have yours with you?" snapped Sheppard.  
"No."  
"Great."  
Sheppard took a step forward, his leg gave another shooting pain, God, this is uncomfortable, he thought.  
McKay sensed Sheppard's hesitation. "Are you going to be okay to walk?"  
"I've got to be."  
Grabbing hold of Sheppard's arm, McKay put it around his shoulder and felt Sheppard lean heavily into him. He led Sheppard towards the door, and they began their long trek upstairs. The corridor was fairly easy to navigate but they had to rest every few minutes as McKay couldn't support Sheppard's weight for very long. McKay heard the quiver in Sheppard's voice and felt the trembling in his body.  
"Are you bleeding?"  
"Yes of course I'm bleeding, I landed on your sharp pointy things, remember."  
"We need to bandage the wound."  
"Good idea. Do you have anything to do that with?"  
"Maybe."

Taking off his jacket, McKay gave a sharp yank; there was a harsh ripping sound. Sheppard felt a hand on his arm and then fabric was being stuffed into his hands. He wrapped it around the leg a number of times before securing the bandage. Touching the wound made it hurt even more, contacting the flesh around the wound and applying pressure sent burning stabs of pain through his thigh. Putting on his now shortened jacket, McKay helped Sheppard up and they headed for the stairs.

* * *

"How many flights do we need to go up?" asked McKay.  
"Three."  
"And how many have we gone up?"  
"Two." Sheppard replied quietly. McKay had noted Sheppard's voice was getting quieter, his remarks less enthusiastic and the pain had made his voice quiver on occasion.  
"Great."  
McKay sat down next to Sheppard.  
"Why didn't we take the lift instead of the stairs?"  
"Because the lifts probably don't work and if they do we can't see to push the buttons." Sheppard rubbed his eyes as though just to confirm the statement.  
"Right, you do know they have Braille numbers on them?"  
"Yes, but can you read Braille, Rodney?"  
"No."  
"How's the leg, Major?"  
"It's Colonel to you and the leg is better when you don't talk."  
"What?"  
"Just shut up, Rodney."  
"Okay, okay."  
"I've got a headache."  
"You too?"  
"Yes. Now would you shut up?"  
McKay sighed.

* * *

"We made it," said Sheppard, the relief evident in his voice.  
"And it only took two decades."  
"Yes, because sneaking around in the pitch black while injured is your specialty," snapped Sheppard.  
"Where now?"  
"Turn left, it should be first door on the right hand side of the corridor."  
"I wish I had a photographic memory, do you realize how much time it'd save?"  
"No. You don't wish you had one."  
"Wh-"  
"Shh"  
"What?" said an exasperated McKay.  
"I think I heard footsteps. They're getting louder."  
"Okay and-"  
"Rodney we have no way of telling if they are a friendly or not, for all we know the Wraith have taken hold of the ship. We need to hide and NOW."  
"Well if the virus had reactivated a beacon then maybe-"  
"Yes, yes, I know." Sheppard gave a muted noise of surprise, "get out of the way, McKay."  
"I'm not in the way."  
"Where's the wall then?"  
"I don't know, _Colonel_! It's pitch black!"  
"Are there any recesses in the corridors on the Daedalus? Come you must know that, Rodney?"  
"No! They don't make walls with alcoves for hiding in, okay! Have you found the wall - hey enough with the touching!"  
"I haven't quite found the WALL yet."  
"I have, come here." McKay grabbed Sheppard's wrist and gave it a sharp yank, virtually dragging Sheppard to the wall and into a corridor off the one they were in. The two waited silently with their backs pressed against the wall for a few nervous minutes, the footsteps continued to increase in volume before they began to fade again.  
"I think they've gone," whispered Rodney.  
"Agreed."  
McKay gave Sheppard's wrist another sharp tug.  
"Rodney!"  
"The last thing we need is to get disoriented."

* * *

McKay pushed the control for the door and heard the mechanical whir of the door opening.  
"Okay, where now?"  
"I don't know, Rodney."  
"Well, isn't that useful."  
"I only know the ship layout! I don't spend my evening memorizing where every item is stored in the storeroom!"  
"Right. Shall we-" There was a loud clatter. "And those would be shelves."  
"Well done, McKay. Would you like a gold star for that insight? Just- start looking for the flashlights. I'll find the intercom."  
" 'Start looking,' " imitated McKay, "Ha ha very funny."

* * *

"Found it!" exclaimed the rather relieved voice of McKay.  
"The Holy Grail?"  
"The intercom," McKay said flatly.  
"Does it work?"  
McKay sighed. "No."  
"Come and help me find the flashlights then."  
"You found anything yet, Maj..errr, Colonel?"  
"I've found lots of things but nothing that feels like flashlights."  
"You know they probably keep them in a box, how are we meant to find things if they keep them in boxes."  
"Open them, Rodney?"  
"Yeah what about the crates?"  
"This feels like blankets," said Sheppard with a hint of surprise in his voice, "at least it's furry like blankets. Eww…"  
There was a loud crash and the sound of glass smashing.  
"Great, what'd you find now Colonel?"  
"I think I found the shelves with glass on them; they're on the floor now."  
"Right, don't fall over."  
"Well, that's something it's worth not doing all the time anyway, Rodney."  
"Because I enjoy it so much it's my hobby at weekends."  
There was another loud crash, McKay's foot had caught the bottom corner of the shelves and sent both of them falling to the floor. As he fell to the ground the back of his head hit something hard.  
"Rodney, you okay?" There was a silence. "Rodney? God damn it, McKay." 

Sheppard dropped to his knees and crawled towards where he had last heard the noise. Reaching out, he felt what was apparently a leg of the downed man. Tracing the body, Sheppard found McKay's head; he'd landed on the edge of a crate. Feeling the man's head he held it in his hands and put his cheek next to McKay's mouth; the breaths were nice and steady. Sliding his hand down the side of McKay's face to his neck, he found a steady pulse. Breathing a sigh of relief, he wondered what the best course of action would be. He needed to get Beckett here now, but he knew the infirmary was the other end of a pitch black ship possibly overrun by life sucking aliens, and he had no radio, and to top it all the intercoms didn't work. He resolved to check the shelves for flashlights in an ever increasing radius from McKay and to return to check on the man between each new shelf.

Sheppard found many things, a large number cold and squishy and he dreaded to think what they might be. It must have been a good half an hour before he found what he was looking, well searching, for. The flashlights were in a crate at the far end of the room. He grabbed one and flicked the switch; to his surprise nothing happened. The room remained pitch black; he grabbed a few more in his arms and made his slow way back towards McKay's body. He checked the man's vitals; they remained good but he'd been out cold for far too long now. Sheppard sat down next to McKay, and set to work trying to fix the flashlights.

* * *

The light pierced his vision making his head pound even harder and everything seemed to be spinning. He rolled over just in time to empty his stomach. Once he'd finished dry heaving, he laid back down. Only then did he realize that there was a gentle hand on his arm, and now his face.  
"Rodney," the relief in Sheppard's voice was audible, "I found the flashlights but they don't work."  
McKay rubbed his eyes, yes there was definitely light, it was hazy but it was definitely light.  
"Colonel…"  
"Yes."  
"The lights are on."  
"No, they're not."  
"Oww. Do you NEED to shine that flashlight in my eye? You're worse than Carson."  
"The flashlights don't work."  
"Colonel. The lights are on."  
Great, now he's delusional or hallucinating, thought Sheppard.  
"Its okay, Rodney, it's just a hallucination, I'll get you outta here as soon as I fix the flashlights."  
"The flashlights ARE WORKING."  
There was silence.  
"Did you really need to shout?"  
Sheppard rubbed his head. The pounding was really stifling his ability to think coherently. He felt strangely woozy and light headed and his face felt like it was on fire.  
"I don't know what is going on with you but the flashlights are on so let's get out of here."  
Sheppard rubbed his eyes seeing nothing but pitch black. Rodney sat up. It was a battle; the world was on something of a rollercoaster tilting first one way and then another. He struggled to keep the nausea at bay but was struck when he saw, an albeit blurry, patch of red by Sheppard's leg.  
"Sheppard, you're bleeding."  
"Of course I'm bleeding."  
"No, I mean there is a lot of blood."  
"No there's not."  
"Just shut up and listen to me. You're bleeding. I'm going to find someone to help."  
"No, you can't risk it, I just need to get these flashlights working and we'll be outta here."  
McKay was getting worried, it wasn't like Sheppard to be so slow. He could vaguely make out Sheppard's blurry form and reaching up found Sheppard's face. Placing his hand on his forehead, he found it clammy.  
"Oww! Sunburn," Sheppard muttered as he swatted away McKay's hands.  
"You can't play hero all the time -  
"Rodney," Sheppard's voice seemed quieter.  
"Colonel?" McKay heard a dull thud of a body hitting the floor. "Colonel? Colonel Sheppard?" The panic was unrestrained. 

Struggling to push himself up, he made his way towards Sheppard. He checked for and found a weak pulse, shallow breaths. Grabbing one of the flashlights he made his way towards the door. Sheppard is blind. Sheppard is blind. His heart fluttered as he thought of the ramifications of it, what it would mean for Sheppard's life on Atlantis. He began to crawl towards the door, every so often falling to one side as the world tilted sickeningly fast. His hands were now covered in the sticky redness that surrounded Sheppard, it seemed to take a lifetime to reach the door, struggling to grab hold of the handle because of his slippery wet hands he finally opened it. The light of the hallway flooded his eyes, making him squint. His eyes felt gritty, he felt tears forming. Odd. He was about to rub his eyes again when he the world started spinning really fast. He vomited helplessly onto the floor before collapsing, he tried to push himself upright but the world was against him as he continued trying to heave the contents of his already empty stomach onto the floor before darkness once again surrounded him.

* * *

"Rodney. Rodney." The voice was insistent. He felt a sharp shake to the shoulder and a bright light in his eye. Carson.  
"Are you trying to blind me?" he murmured. The world was still spinning but was something less of a roundabout now.  
"Rodney, where did the blood come from? Rodney! I need you to tell me where the blood came from."  
"Sheppard," he murmured before drifting into peaceful oblivion again.

* * *

McKay woke to the sound of a steady beep, a heart monitor; he tried to roll over and yelped at the burning sensation the IV line made. His arm brushed the blanket, it felt like it was on fire, and reaching up he touched his head only momentarily as that seemed to burn too. He slowly opened his eyes to find he only saw darkness. I'm blind. I'm blind. Panic surged through him. 

"I'm blind," he croaked.  
Reaching up to touch his eyes, he felt a dressing in the way. Odd.  
"You're awake," He heard the voice of Carson to the right of him.  
"Well done for stating the obvious. Are you going to tell me what you've done to my eyes?"  
"It's a dressing," said Beckett calmly.  
"I noticed that."  
"You have Photokeratitis."  
"And that is?"  
Beckett could imagine the impatient look that McKay would have been giving him if his eyes weren't covered.  
"In layman's terms snow blindness. Because you weren't wearing eye protection, the UVB rays from that star burnt your corneas."  
"What?" McKay struggled against the IV line as he tried to sit up. He felt arms pushing him down and felt a prickly burning sensation where they had contacted the skin.  
" Carson?" His voice squeaked. " Carson? I need to see, I need my eyes, I can't be blind," he felt his eyes tear up involuntarily at the thought of what his life would be like without his sight. " Carson?"  
"You're not blind."  
McKay sighed. Never had that Scottish voice uttered such beautiful words. "Colonel Sheppard?" Another wave of panic surged through him.  
"We found him after we found you;" McKay heard the sound of a stool being pulled up. "You'd collapsed in the corridor just outside the storage room; we followed the trail of blood and found him."  
"Is he okay?"  
"He's alive." McKay couldn't help but smile at that.  
"Is he okay?"  
"He needed a number of blood transfusions. He'd lost a lot of blood. It appears he was stabbed with a small screwdriver but we didn't find the handle. It was lucky he didn't remove the shaft of the screwdriver from the wound otherwise he would have bled out in minutes; it was effectively stopping the wound. It was removed in surgery a few hours ago."  
"A stop? But there was so much blood."  
"The long trek from your quarters jarred the wound causing it to bleed heavily."  
"How did you know he was in my quarters?"  
"There was another trail of blood droplets."  
"Oh. Right."  
"Is he blind?"  
"No his corneas were burnt too but they will regenerate in the next 12-36 hours. Both of you should be able to see fine in a day or so.. I've dropped an ophthalmic antibiotic solution into your eyes and closed them with the patches. You will need to keep them closed and keep those patches on for the next day."  
"Umm, Carson why don't the intercoms work?"  
"They work fine."  
"The intercom in my room to the left hand side of the door? And the one in the store room?"  
"The intercoms are on the right-hand side of the door, Rodney. The things on the left are the light switches."  
"Huh, who'd have known," muttered McKay.  
"Now you should get some rest, Rodney, you suffered a rather severe concussion."  
"You don't need to tell me to get some rest, Carson. It'll be my pleasure," and with that McKay closed his eyes falling into a dark and dreamless sleep.

Fin


	2. Epilogue

**Epilogue (Pre-slash)**

McKay felt his arm being squeezed, opening his eyes he saw Sheppard sitting by his bed in scrubs. They could see again.  
"It's okay Rodney, I won't tell anyone about what happened in your bedroom."  
"Only in your dreams."  
"Yeah right."  
He felt a hand cradle his face again as he fell asleep.

fin


End file.
